Note: You must establish a session for Winter Academic Term 2002 on wolverineaccess.umich.edu in order to use the link "Check Times, Location, and Availability". Once your session is established, the links will function.

Introductory courses

Section 001.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Open to first- and second-year students. Juniors are strongly encouraged to enroll in Soc. 300. Seniors must elect Soc. 300. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Soc. 195 or 300 (or 400). No credit for seniors. (4). (SS). May not be included in a concentration plan. (Introductory course).

Sociology is the exciting and systematic study of individuals within the context of their society. This introductory course offers new perspectives by which to examine the world on a micro (individual or personal) sociological level, as well as on a macro (global) level. Students are introduced to the Sociological Imagination and its application to social interaction and issues of social inequality (class and stratification, gender and sex, race and ethnicity).

In the latter part of the course these principles are applied to two specific areas of examination. The first is the American family, which explores family structures, love, commitment, child and domestic abuse, maltreatment, neglect, and violence. The second is the American health system, including availability and affordability of health care, issues of mental health, alternative medical treatments, inequalities in the health care delivery system, and other concerns within the field of Medical Sociology.

Introductory courses

Section 012.

Instructor(s): Karen S Honeycutt

Prerequisites & Distribution: Open to first- and second-year students. Juniors are strongly encouraged to enroll in Soc. 300. Seniors must elect Soc. 300. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Soc. 195 or 300 (or 400). No credit for seniors. (4). (SS). May not be included in a concentration plan. (Introductory course).

Sociology is the systematic study of human behavior, social relationships, and societies. This course will introduce the "sociological perspective" as a tool for understanding the connections between the individual's everyday life and larger-scale processes and structures within society. We will focus particularly on various explanations for social inequality in the U.S. and empirical research about such inequality. Specifically, we will examine how social class, race-ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc., shape our lives and our social institutions.

What you should expect to get out of this course is a critical perspective on social life. You should be prepared to grapple with some issues you've never thought about before (or at least have never thought about sociologically before); be prepared to deal with value judgments, slippery concepts, and some ambiguity. Course requirements include three exams (20% each), two "sociological projects" (20% total), and attendance and participation at the weekly discussion section (20%).

NOTE THAT THIS IS
SECTION *012*. THE LINK BELOW WILL TAKE YOU TO SECTION 001, SO TO
REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE, SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION 012.

Introductory courses

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Karen S Honeycutt

Prerequisites & Distribution: Open to first- and second-year students. Juniors are strongly encouraged and seniors must take Soc. 300 or 401. No credit for seniors. (4). (SS). May not be included in a concentration plan. (Introductory course).

How is our behavior influenced by others? How do we influence others' behavior? These questions are at the heart of social psychology. In this course, we will examine social behavior as a product of the interaction between and among individuals and groups. Topics to be covered include socialization, social relationships among groups, communication, social attitudes and attributions, the social nature of the self, attitudes and behavior, conformity, helping, close relationships, aggression and conflict, social power, and issues of inequality.
Course requirements include three in-class exams (20% each), two or three short papers (total 20%), and attendance and ACTIVE participation at lecture and a weekly two-hour discussion section (20%).
The textbook is James A. Wiggins, Beverly B. Wiggins, and James VanderZanden, Social Psychology, fifth edition (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994). A course pack is also required; it will be available at Accu-Copy in early January.

Section 001  Sociology of Women's Health.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (SS). May not be included in a concentration plan.

Women's health issues currently exact multidisciplinary attention from a broad spectrum of fields, including sociology. This course offers a life-course perspective on women's health from a medical sociological stance, followed by an examination of gender-specific, health-related issues. An initial socio-historical examination of women's health and ancient women healers is followed by health-related topics for women in youth, as young adults, in midlife, and as women of age. Women's health issues covered in the second half of the course include inequalities in medical treatment and research, the medicalization of beauty, eating disorders, mental illness, violence and abuse, and sexuality. Students also are given an opportunity for in-depth research on issues of women's health which are pertinent to their academic and/or personal lives.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Frost

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (SS).

Credits: (4).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

The vaulted Information Revolution is more than Web surfing, Net games and dotcomes. Indeed, it is the foundation for an economic and social transformation on a scale comparable to the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century. As a culture we have learned from earlier such transformations and it is important to recognize these lessons and chart a path toward intellectual and practical mastery of the emerging world of information.

This course will provide the foundational knowledge necessary to begin to address the key issues associated with the Information Revolution. Issues will range from the theoretical (what is information and how do humans construct it?) to the cultural (is life on the screen a qualitatively different phenomenon from experiences with earlier distance-shrinking and knowledge- building technologies such as telephones?), to the practical (what are the basic archetectures of computing and networks?) Successful completion of this gateway course will give you, the student, the conceptual tools necessary to become conversant with the analytical tools needed for the Information Age, providing a foundation for later study in Information or any number of more traditonal disciplines, be conversant with the politics of information, the cultural and social frames constructed by various IT procedures and environments, and the ontologies of knowledge implicit in the information revolution. They should be ready to take arange of diverse advanced courses, addressing anything from computer-aided design to social statistics.

A key component of the course will encompass group projects on analytical topics, using group[ware and collaboratopn software to facilitate collective work and lerning. For example, a group might examine the delima of "privacy" versus "security" in the context not only of encryption technology and its inherent costs but also of the impacts on"cognitive communities" and their dependence on a relatively free flow of informationwhile also keeping crediting of new knowledge legally located with specific individuals. By contrast, another group could study the use and abuse of ambiguity in social relations mediated by IT infastructures, for example, how ambiguity in a chat environment can liberate people from preconceptions of lookism, racism, and prejudices toward handicaps, yet how it can also facilitate fraud and seduction.

Section 001.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Intended primarily for first- and second-year students. May not be used as a prerequisite for a concentration in psychology. (2). (Excl). May not be included in a concentration plan. May be repeated for a total of four credits.

Introductory courses

Prerequisites & Distribution: (2-4). (Excl). (Introductory course). Credit is granted for a combined total of eight credits elected through Soc. 102, 202, 203, and 401, provided that the course topics are different.

This course examines the inequities of race, class, and gender, with a focus on the United States in a global context. We will review sociological approaches to social inequality: are race, class, and gender seen as individual attributes or as structural phenomenon? Are they theorized independently or is their intersectionality acknowledged? In addition to studying the social history of inequality, we will read individual biographical accounts of the experiences of being classed, raced, and gendered subjects.

Section 001.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Sociology Honors students should elect this course prior to beginning the Honors Seminar sequence. Sociology concentrators should elect this course during their third year. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Stats. 100, 350, 265, 311, 350, 402, 405, or 412, or Econ. 404 or 405. (4). (MSA). (BS). (QR/1).

This course is an introduction to statistics for
students in sociology and other social sciences with no
previous experience with statistics. We will cover descriptive
statistics for one and two variables, basic theories behind
making statistical inferences, and inferential statistics.
Emphasis is on understanding the techniques and applying
them in social science research situations. Basic knowledge of high school algebra is assumed; some statistical analyses using computers will be used.

Section 001  Sports and Culture in Advanced Industrial Democracies.

Few things have characterized mass culture in the 20th century more consistently and thoroughly than sports. Particularly in their team variety, there is not one industrial country in the world that does not possess at least one major team sport which has obtained hegemonic dimensions in that country's culture in the course of the passing century. There can be simply no doubt that team sports, as forms of mass culture, have been among the most essential ingredients of public life in the 20th century. Why has this been the case? And how did this happen? Why did American culture allow four sports (baseball, football, basketball, and hockey) to flourish simultaneously, while soccer alone prevailed in Germany? Why has the "sports map" remained so stable throughout an otherwise volatile century? Will this stability persist in the new millennium, or will new forces challenge these hegemonic sports and contest them in their respective cultural spaces?

In answering these questions, the course will look at the phenomenon ubiquitous to all advanced industrial societies where disorganized contests, competitions and games mutated into what we have come to know as modern team sports.

Introductory courses

Section 001  Modern Social Change.

Prerequisites & Distribution: For juniors, seniors, and graduate students with no background in sociology. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Soc. 100 or 195. (3). (SS). (Introductory course).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

This course offers an introduction to sociology through the study of modern social change. For the purposes of this course, the notion of social change is construed broadly to comprise both emergent societal change and changes effected by such actors as states and social movements. The course will cover sociological theories of modernity and modern social change, as well as empirical research on social change in specific societal spheres, periods, and contexts. Political and economic development, urbanization, colonialism and post-colonialism, state socialism and post-socialism, changes in family structure, progressive and anti-modern social movements, and globalization are among the topics likely to be covered in this course.

What is the meaning of race in the contemporary U.S.? This is the
central question that will inform our discussions in this course
throughout this term.

In the first third of the term, we will briefly review the four major
"waves" of immigration to this country: the first, composed mostly of
Northwest Europeans who immigrated up to the mid-1800s; the
second, Southern and Eastern Europeans from the late 1800s to the
early 1900s, as well as some Asian immigrants during the same
period; the third was the movement from the South to the North of
African-Americans and Mexicans precipitated by two World Wars;
and the fourth, from 1965, is still going on and largely consists of
immigrants from Latin America and Asia. We will pay particular
attention to the historical context in which these groups came to
and/or moved within America and what that context meant for their
success (or lack thereof).

In the second third of the term, we will examine the connection
between race and some major social institutions: work & the
economy, education, the family, and medicine & health. This will be
followed by three classes with "open" topics chosen by the class as a
whole.

In the last third of the term, we will take a sociological look at
some contemporary issues of race and ethnicity in the U.S.: race and
ethnic relations, English-only laws, immigration policy, debates about
the relative significance of race and class, affirmative action, and the
new challenges of multicultural identities & the future of race in
America.

Throughout the term, we will be attentive to the intersections among
race/ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and other
"social identities" in shaping our individual lives, our interactions with
others, our social institutions, and our society as a whole.

Course requirements will include exams, papers, and attendance and
ACTIVE participation at lecture and a weekly one-hour discussion
section.

The textbook will be a collection of readings in a LARGE
course pack, which will be available at Accu-Copy the first week of
January.

Instructor(s): John Lie

This course examines the history and problems that racial minorities have faced in the U.S. by surveying the experiences of groups such as African Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, and Asians. The social history of the groups is discussed as well as the social problems confronting it.

Section 001.

That America is a nation of immigrants is one of the most common place, yet truest of statements. In this course we will survey a vast range of the American immigrant experience: that of the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Mexicans. Immigration to America can be broadly understood as consisting of four major waves; the first one, that which consisted of Northwest Europeans who immigrated up to the mid-19th century; the second one, that which consisted of Southern and East Europeans at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th; the third one, the movement from the south to the north of Black Americans and Mexicans precipitated by the two world wars; and the fourth one, from 1965 on, is still ongoing in the present, of immigrants mostly from Latin America and Asia. At all times, our effort is to understand the immigrant past of these ethnic groups, both for what it tells us about the past as well as their present and possible future. Course requirements: the written requirements for this course consist of two exams. Both the exams will be in-class tests, consisting of short answer questions that will draw from the lectures and our discussion of the readings. Each exam will be worth 50 percent.

An introduction to various problems in the analysis of social organization as they are treated in the works of several seminal figures in sociological thought. The course will ask how these thinkers accounted for the emergence, growth, and ordering of social organization, and how they accounted for social change. In the context of this analysis the student will be introduced to various accounts and uses of such theoretical concepts as structure, function, norm, power, solidarity, integration, differentiation, communication, stratification, adaptation to environment, social control and deviance. Attention will also be given to the way in which the organizational concepts developed in sociological theory have been used in modern sociological research.

Section 001.

Prerequisites & Distribution: One introductory course in sociology; or completion of one social science course in economics, anthropology, political science, psychology or other sociology course; Sociology concentrators are strongly encouraged to elect this course in the Junior year. Sociology Honors students should elect this course concurrently with Soc. 397. (4). (Excl). (BS). (QR/1).

This course teaches the main basic research methods used by social scientists: observation, survey, experimentation, and statistics. It demonstrates the logic (as well as the "illogic") of reasoning in social science. You will learn how to use the computer for statistical analysis and word processing. Evaluation is based on four quizzes (40%) and four research projects (60%). You should be prepared to take computer labs. Prior knowledge of computers and popular software's (such as Microsoft Word and Excel) is helpful but not required. The research projects will be based on real data that have already been collected.

Section 001.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Soc. 320 and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). A combined total of 8 credits of Soc. 321, 389, and 395 may be counted toward a concentration in Sociology. (EXPERIENTIAL).

Section 002.

Prerequisites & Distribution: Soc. 320 and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). A combined total of 8 credits of Soc. 321, 389, and 395 may be counted toward a concentration in Sociology. (EXPERIENTIAL).

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Sela V Panapasa

This course focuses on a selection of population issues that relate to social and economic problems. Some time at the start of the course is spent reviewing the overall world demographic situation and basic demographic measures. Causes of change in population growth rates and the consequences of population change for individuals and society also are considered. The course has an international focus. Much of the material relates to the Third World; some topics relate specifically to the United States. Students are expected to master a modest amount of technical material, learn some basic demographic facts and concepts, and develop an understanding of the major viewpoints and theories concerning the population problems covered. Students are encouraged to develop a critical perspective on why certain population trends become defined as problems and why analysts disagree on the existence and nature of these problems.

Section 001.

In this course, the methods of modern social science and demography are used to analyze the causes and consequences of those large scale social
and economic changes now occurring in the United States. There is an emphasis upon population trends as both the causes and consequences of
social and economic change.

Aims of the Course:

To develop an understanding of the causes and consequences of those major social and economic trends that are now reshaping the
United States with an emphasis upon population trends as both a cause and consequence of large scale change.

To provide training about the quantitative analysis of contemporary social, economic and demographic trends using data from the Public Use
Microdata Samples of the Censuses of 1980 and 1990.

Note: This course does not presume that you have had prior training using computers
for social science research or a statistics course. The training you will need will be presented in the computer sessions. You will become
familiar with the presentation and analysis of social science data as well as with several statistical procedures.

Sociology 344 will provide a sociological examination of marriage and family life. The course will consider the meaning of marriage and family life and the ways that these social institutions are embedded within the larger social system. Of particular importance are the ways in which marriage and family systems intersect with, define, and are defined by the social and economic structures of society. The course will study various dimensions of marriage and family patterns, including structures, processes, relationships, and changes. The course will examine the ways in which family structures and relationships are influenced by social, economic, and personal forces and how family structures and processes, in turn, influence personal and social life. Several main aspects of marriage and family life will be investigated: kin relationships and household structure; division of labor and authority; courtship and mate selection; union formation and dissolution; and childbearing. Both historical and comparative perspectives on these marriage and family issues will be considered. A text book is typically required. Grading is based on a combination of exams and essays.

Prerequisites & Distribution: (2-4). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. Up to four credits of Soc. 389 may be included in a concentration plan in sociology. A combined total of eight credits of Soc. 321, 389, and 395 may be counted toward a concentration in sociology. Laboratory fee ($40) required. (EXPERIENTIAL). May be repeated four times, for a total of eight credits.

All students must view the web site:
http://www.umich.edu/~mserve/ProjectCommunity/HTML/course_PC.html
PRIOR to registering for a Soc 389 Project Community section.
Questions and overrides must be directed to the Project Community Office, 1024 Hill Street, 647-8771, Sean de Four, seafour@umich.edu.

Sociology 389 is known as Project Community." Students combine four to six hours of weekly service in community settings, with weekly student-led seminars. Seminars are interactive, focus on related sociological issues, and provide a time for mutual support, planning, and problem-solving.

Students enrolled in Sociology 389 are responsible for regular attendance in the weekly seminar as well as regular participation at the designated community service site. Students will be asked to complete reflective journal assignments, a short midterm written assignment, and a final paper/project.

NOTE: All sections of Sociology 389 will commence in the first week of class. There will NOT be a delayed start.

Over 35 community service settings are available. They include schools, hospitals, correctional facilities, a domestic violence shelter, advocacy agencies, and care organizations. For details, please see the specific section description.

Transportation to off-campus service sites is available through Project Community.

WL:2. If a particular section is full, please e-mail Mark Chesler(seafour@umich.edu) to be added to the waitlist.

Instructor(s):

Prerequisites & Distribution: Permission of concentration advisor and supervising staff member. (1-4). (Excl). A combined total of eight credits of Soc. 321, 389, and 395 may be counted toward a concentration in Sociology. (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit. May be elected for credit in the same term.

Credits: (1-4).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

For undergraduate students interested in work not available within the framework of regular Departmental offerings (either work beyond the scope of present course offerings for students who have completed available courses with at least a grade of B or work in areas not available through existing course work for students with a 3.0 grade point average). Student should contact faculty member with whom they want to work to arrange topic and workload.

This seminar is the first in a three-course sequence designed to help
students to write an Honors thesis in sociology. All three academic terms are
very work-intensive, but particularly this first one. In this course,
students will:

review the literature in their area of interest

construct a sociological research question about their topic

design a
methodology to collect data toward answering that question

write a
prospectus that outlines the project

find a faculty member who will
mentor them throughout the project.

This course is organized primarily as
a workshop to help students accomplish all of these tasks. This course is
also meant to help students improve their social science writing skills and
to become comfortable with the process of writing. Finally, the course
requires students to do a lot of work independently.

The objective is preparation of a significant research paper. Possible projects are canvassed in fall seminar meetings; students then do research under a faculty member until March; papers are presented to the seminar for criticism in the Spring.

Introductory courses

Section 001  Race, Class and Social Policy.

Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (Excl). (Introductory course). Credit is granted for a combined total of eight credits elected through Soc. 102, 202, 203, and 401, provided that the course topics are different.

This course focuses on definitions and consequences of race and class in American society. Throughout we will pay close attention to how existing social policies affect racial and class inequalities, as well as what alternative policies might be pursued. Topics will include: the new census race categories, affirmative action, welfare reform, wealth, and the digital divide. The format of the class will be a combination of lecture and discussion.

Section 001.

Instructor(s): Xiaogang Wu

Prerequisites & Distribution: Soc. 100, 195, or 300. (3). (Excl).

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

This course gives a survey of post-1949 Chinese society, focusing on the social change since 1978. The course is structured not as a historical chronology, but rather as a thematic discussion of some major issues in socialist China. We will explore the basic institutional make-up of Chinese society, the structural changes brought forth in the reform era, and how these institutions configure social life in China.

This term, we will focus on institutions of
Japanese business and labor. We will begin with an overview
of business and economic conditions in Japan. In the first
half of the course, we will examine aspects of Japanese business, such as company structure, subcontracting relations, distribution networks, corporate groups, government relations, and globalization.
In the second part, we will take up issues in Japanese labor,
such as transition from school to work, hiring and promotion,
compensation, training, and gender/race issues.

Section 001.

Why distinguish between sex and gender? Is gender just about women? What does the distinction between men and women have to do with families, economies, states, and social change? How does gender shape major social institutions? In this course, students will gain tools for asking and answering questions like these through close readings of influential gender theorists such as literary critic Toril Moi and sociologists Evelyn Nakano-Glenn and R.W. Connell, studying empirical research which applies a "gender lens," and engagement with representations of gender in dance, song, and film. The course strives to inspire students to think broadly and creatively about gender as embedded in everyday life, enabling and constraining social interactions, and structuring organizations and institutions.

Section 001.

An introduction to political sociology with a particular emphasis on the relationship between economics and politics. Basic concepts such as power, state, nation, and class will be introduced and applied to the analysis of the development and change of political systems in historical and comparative perspective. The course examines (a) the historical origins of democracy, fascism, and communism as political systems, (b) imperialism, development, and revolution in the Third World, and (c) class, class coalitions, and the state in post New-Deal U.S. politics. Introductory courses in sociology or political science desirable but not required. Lecture/discussion; midterm and final.

Section 001.

This course is designed to examine the organization of law in society and the relationships between law and society. The approach will be primarily from a sociological perspective; however, we will also explore the views of legal scholars, anthropologists, political scientists, philosophers, and others. While the course will be a survey of "law and social organization" in general, we will focus on current topics of special interest as a device for our study: the death penalty, rape laws, affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws, university rules and regulations, and others. Students will be expected to gain an understanding of the extent of the study of law and social organization and the leading theories and ideas about it, and will be asked to think critically and independently about legal systems and the role of law in society.

Section 001.

This course will examine the purposes and roles of schooling in society. We will explore issues of socialization, stratification, the social organization of schools and classrooms, and the uses of both formal and hidden curriculums. We will examine issues of inequality, race, class and gender, cultural transmission and social change. We also will explore the role and experience of participants in schooling. Finally, we will examine contemporary issues in schools and possibilities for change in schools and change in society. Students are expected to be active participants in discussions and presentation of class readings and topics. There will be one short paper and a take-home exam. Students also will be expected to devote considerable time and effort to a research paper on some aspect of school change.

Section 001  Labor and Global Social Change.

How is the global economy changing and why? What do these changes imply for workers and their organizations in the global North and South, and how are they responding to the challenges and opportunities created by the current model of economic globalization? Will any of the leading proposals for the reform of trade, labor law, and immigration policies make a positive difference for workers? If so, which ones and why? This course explores these questions, paying special attention to the experience of workers, and the strategies of governments, corporations, and unions, in the USA and Mexico. During Winter break, there will be an optional field trip to the maquiladora city of Nogales, Mexico. Financial support for students who go on the field trip will be provided by the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations' Labor and Global Change Program.

The course will examine how people become social deviants and how relevant social institutions contribute to this process. Early portions will examine the legal enforcement, judicial, and corrections systems which together determine who will be designated deviant and with what consequences. Later portions will focus on particular forms of deviance (e.g., delinquency, theft, fraud, rape) with a view to understanding and evaluating the several theoretical perspectives that have been proposed to explain their genesis and perpetuation.

Section 001.

This course will explore social aspects of health, aging, and the health care system in American society. We will examine such issues as the social causation of disease, relationships between doctors and patients, the health professions, health care among women and the poor, current health care crisis in a national and cross-cultural perspective.

Section 001  Interaction Processes: The Self in Social Encounters.

This course is an undergraduate seminar that uses a discussion
format. Students are expected to participate actively in the teaching and
learning processes.
We will explore how the self both adapts to, and directs conduct
in, social encounters. Our focus will be on encounters that take
place in everyday settings where the activity of both self and others
is partially guided by local social structure  e.g., by frames,
rules, roles, and relationships.

The objectives of this course are to increase students' appreciation of a
sociological perspective on aging and the life course. The course will
introduce students to the major theories and concepts social and
behavioral scientists use to describe and understand the process of aging
as a social phenomenon. Topics to be covered include (among others)
theories of aging, issues in the demography of aging, health and disability,
successful aging, work and retirement, intergenerational support in the
family, and death and dying. Upon completion of the course students will be
able to describe and interpret age-related transitions; identify the
contributions of a variety of disciplines (e.g., biology, sociology,
psychology, anthropology, philosophy) to the study of aging; critically
analyze major issues and controversies related to aging; identify major
legislation and policies that affect the older population; and to access
information on a range of topics connected to the study of aging.

Prerequisites & Distribution: One introductory course in sociology. (1-3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit, provided that the course topics are different.

Credits: (1-3).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

3 credit course.
This course will draw on research and theory from sociology, economics, psychology, anthropology, history and organizational behavior to analyze a wide range of issues regarding gender and work. We will study the construction of gender through work, effects of changing technology, gendered structures of opportunity, emotion work, globalization of women's work (both through capital and labor mobility), sexual harassment, work and family, housework, gender segregation of jobs, pay inequality, and trends in paid labor force participation and attachment. The objective is that students come away from the course able to engage scholarship on these issues across different disciplines.

Instructor(s): Taner Akcam

Prerequisites & Distribution: One introductory course in sociology. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit, provided that the course topics are different.

Credits: (3).

Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.

This course is offered as a part of a long-term project organized by the
International Institute that aims to establish a center for the Study of
History, Conflict and Reconciliation in the Eastern Mediterranean. This
Center would develop a unique historical and geographical perspective on the
current conflicts in an area that spans from the Balkans to the Middle East.
This course employs social sciences in general and history in particular to
examine the conflicts in the region; it focuses primarily on the
Turkish-Armenian conflict and its possible resolution while also providing an
overview of the Kurdish-Turkish and Nagorno-Karabagh issues.
In this new formulation, history is not employed merely as a supplementary
category, but rather as an integral part of the dilemma itself. Yet the main
purpose of the course is not to elaborate on 'what really happened' either,
but rather to show the manner of dispute surrounding the issue. The course
analyzes and demonstrates that beside history itself, the discourse on
history -- how one speaks about history -- and its representation are equally
important. In fact, in the above-mentioned conflicts, the historical
discourse and its representation are not merely a major part of the problem,
but even a new source of it. Therefore, rather than focusing on the actual
events, the course examines how the issue has been/is handled and
interpreted. The intent of the course is thus to seek out the possibilities
of a dialogue that could eventually lead to its resolution.
One of the important elements that reproduces conflict and hinders dialogue
in the region is 'grounded prejudice'. Opposing groups have sustained this
prejudice across time and space, and through social and cultural institutions
and practices, After surveying the dynamics of each conflict, the course
articulates the concept of grounded prejudice and suggest different scenarios
through which it could be eliminated. The course concludes with the analysis
of this grounded prejudice, thereby opening up the possibility of dialogue by
creating a space in which dialogue may occur, identifying and circumventing
the obstacles involved, and creating a new language through which to
articulate it. The 'Insider Outsider' model is employed in particular to
elucidate one of the important sources that creates of these prejudices. The
course requirements include two in-class presentations and one final paper